[January 24, 2014]COLUMBUS, Ohio — One thousand games
later, the Blue Jackets appear to have finally figured it out.

Five different players scored goals and the Blue Jackets
celebrated the 1,000th game in their history by dusting the
Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 Thursday night before 15,571 in Nationwide
Arena.

The Blue Jackets have been the NHL's perennial losers since joining
the league as an expansion franchise in 2000. Only once in 13
seasons have they reached the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they still
haven't won a playoff game.

Now they've won eight games in a row, the most in franchise history,
leapfrogging the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan
Division.

"The best word for how we're playing right now is 'relentless,'"
Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky said. "No matter what teams
throw at us, we find a way to dig down deep and come up with a win.

"Winning is hard in this league. To win eight straight is something
to be proud of, and it gives us a lot of confidence. But we have to
celebrate this the right way by continuing to work."

MacKenzie made it 2-2 at 11:24 of the second after Jackets
center Artem Anisimov found him alone streaking through the slot
for his third goal of the season.

The Jackets took the lead back with a power-play goal at 16:13
of the second when Wisniewski's wrister into the slot went into
the net off Calvert's left skate.

After killing off a 5-on-3 Flyers power play to start the third,
the Blue Jackets began to pull away.

Dubinsky made it 4-2 at 3:29 of the third and Horton made a
slick move to get around Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros for a
clean shot at Emery at 6:54 to make it 5-2.

"This is a lot of fun to be a part of," MacKenzie said. "Credit
to all the guys who have come in here the last couple of years
to really change the atmosphere around this team."

The Flyers have dropped three straight and are 2-4-2 in their
last eight, allowing 35 goals in that span.

"We're not defending very well," Flyers coach Craig Berube said.
"We're not good at breaking out the puck. We're turning it over.
I don't think it's our work ethic, it's just execution, but it
starts in our own end."

NOTES: The Blue Jackets played the 1,000th regular-season game
in franchise history. ... Flyers G Steve Mason missed facing his
former club for the second time this season. G Ray Emery made
both starts in Nationwide Arena, where Mason spent 4 1/2 seasons
and won a franchise-record 97 games between 2008-09 and 2012-13.
... Blue Jackets RW Marian Gaborik skated on his own for the
first time since breaking his collarbone on Dec. 21. He hopes to
represent Slovakia in the upcoming Winter Olympics, but it is
unclear whether he will be cleared by the Columbus medical staff
in time to participate.